With St. Peter’s, St. John Lateran, St. Paul Outside the Walls, it is one of four basilicas in Rome granted special status by the pope. In his will, he wrote that he had visited the Marian basilica at the beginning and the end of every apostolic trip he took during his 12-year papacy.

The Santa Maria Maggiore basilica, which Pope Francis chose as his final resting place, is a fifth-century church located in the centre of Rome that already holds the tombs of seven popes.